Friday, July 11, 2014

Reading LeBron's explanation of why he chose to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers made me think of this quote...

“If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.” ― Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

Dan Gilbert's letter made LeBron feel like an inferior outcast and in the end, he didn't have to order LeBron to come back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron's very nature demanded he come back despite the fact Gilbert treated him like a runaway slave.

If LeBron wanted to teach the kids of Northeast Ohio a REALLY powerful lesson, then he would've demanded that Dan Gilbert sell the team before he agreed to return. He didn't do that. His thinking didn't allow it.

He's gone from boasting about winning "not five, not six, not seven" championships when he came to Miami to talking about winning "just one" when he returns to the Cavs.